Lubricated shaft bearing



pril 23, 1946. fG, E;l KOPETZ 2,398,944

LUBRICATED SHAFT BEARING Filed Jul'y 2i. 1942 2 sheets-sheet 1 April 23, 1946. G, E KOPTZ 2,393,944

I LUBRICATED SHAFT BEARING Y Filed July 21, 1942 2 VShelzs-Sheet. 2

Patented Apr. 23, 1946 Iarriere LUBRICA'LED SHAVFTYBEARING George E. Kopetz, Pittsburgh, Pa., assgnorA to Blaw-Knox Company, Blawnox, Pa., a corporation of New ersey Application July 21, 1942, Serial No. 451,703 2 claims. (c1. isi-4 6) This invention pertains to a bearing for a shaft, more especially a rotating shaft, and is Vfor a bearing in which means is provided for the lubrication of the bearing.

In various types of equipmentvit is desirable to provide abearing which will be constantly lubricated. In many such applications difficulty is encountered in providing a lubricated bearing.

, This is especially true of shaftsv which are exposed to vapors orvgaseswhich may be absorbed intothe lubricant and detrimentally affect its lubricating properties. This is the case, for example, of the agitating shaft vin a reaction kettle such as is used in the manufacture of plastics and synthetic rubber. In this specication, I

have illustrated my invention as being applied to such a reaction kettle, but it will be lunderstood that the invention is not limited to this speciiic purpose and may be otherwise embodied and used. For the purposes, however, of clearly pointing out and describing my invention, specific reference will hereafter be' made to reaction kettles.

For example, inv one process of making synthetic. rubber, butadiene and styrene are agi-1I tated together with a salt solution at an elevated temperature. Butadiene boils at 24 F. at atmospheric pressure. In the process above referred to, it has a vapor pressure of 100 pounds Der square inch. Butadiene is soluble in lubri= cating oil and its presence in oil in appreciable quantities thins the oil and impairs its value as a lubricant. 1

According to the present invention, there is provided a bearing structure in which thev bearA l* ing elements for the shaft are enclosed. A gland at each end of the enclosure seals' the enclosure against the escape of oil therefrom. Means is provided for maintaining the lubricant under a pressure slightly greater than the pressureofs:

the atmosphere to which itis exposed. This higher pressure `within the enclosure prevents destructive vapors or liquids fromentering the enclosure. Additionally, by circulating the oil under pressure, impurities of any nature may bev carried away and removed by processing the oil and before the oil is re-circulated. In the case of va shaft which is running in a space where atmospheric pressure exists, the pressure on the lubricant need be only slightly above atmospheric pressure, but where, as in the case of a reaction kettle, one end of the shaft is exposed to relatively high pressure, an even higher pressure is maintained on the oil.

My invention may be readily understood by reference t0 the accompanying drawings, in

' which Figure 1 is a sectional View illustrating the upper part of a reaction kettle with a bearing embodying'my invention applied to the vagitator shaft which passes through the bearing,V the circulating system for the lubricant being diagrammatically illustrated. Figure 2v 'is a fragmentary section on a somewhat *larger scale, showing the structure Yof one form of gland that lis particularly applicable `for use at the end of the 'enclosurem f In the drawings `2 designates the upper portion only of a closed vessel, such, for example, asa kettle used Afor reacting butadiene and stryene in the manufacture of synthetic rubber.

" The kettle may be of any known or preferred construction, and is provided at the center 'of the 'top with an opening 3, around which is provideda seat 4 to receive the bearing for the agitator' shaft, the agitator shaft being designated generally as 5 andthevbearing structure is designated generallyas 6.'-

The bearing structure '6 comprises a sleeve fvmeiiiber 1, which enclosesaV considerableportion of the'length of thel upper Aportion of'the agitator shaft and which is of a diameter larger than thediameterlof this shaft. It is provided intermediate its4 ends with a laterally projecting flangeV la that engages' the seat 4 and is sealed to the top'of the receptacle 2. The flange 'Ia provides a means for mounting the sleeve in a fixed location. Y

. In the particular embodiment shown, the

shaft isfprovidedwith a collar 9 adjacent the ,upper end of the sleeve 'I. Belowv this collar within the sleeve arev ball-bearings@ The ballbearings are used at this point because the bearingsfnot only center the shaft but rtake endwise thrust on the shaft, athrust ring being illustrated at .9a. Inside Athe lowerend ofV the sleeve isanother bearing structure such as the roller- `cover member I2, having a portion I2a that is bearings I0, these roller-bearings being held in place on the shaftbya collar II. i

The lower end, of thesleeve is'closed by a sealed against a seat 1b on the lower endof the sleeve. yThe cover/member I 2provides a supy port for a gland designated generally as I3. In

the specific structure illustrated the cover member I2 carries a fixed gland insert ring I4. VInside the cover is a sealing ring I5, which rotates with the shaft and which bears against the gland insert I4. Within the sealing ring I5 is a stufling 4box I6, and a compression ring I1 cooperates with this stuffing box to compress pack- .v ing and processing unit.

The particular form of gland illustrated is one y which may be satisfactorily employed and is one known to the art and forms no part of the present invention per se. Any other suitable packing or gland may be provided in the cover member I2.

At the upper end of the sleeve is a similar cover member 2l, having a portion 2Ia that seats on j and forms a seal with part 'Ic at the upper end of the sleeve 'L 24, which is in all respects similar to the packing structure vI 3 in the lower cover member.

It will be noted that the lower cover member I2 and the lower end of the sleeve, and in fact that opens into the ,sleevebelowl the bearing I0.

The cover member 2| .may be provided with an opening 2,9, into which pipe 3U may be screwed,

the opening 29 of coursebeing above the ball` bearings 8. One of the pipes 26 may be an oil supply pipeand the other one 30 an oil take-off or discharge pipe, and the ,direction in which lubrication is circulated is indicated by the arrow.

The cover member 2I carries a packing gland structure designated generally as In the drawings the pipe 26`is illustrated asv be-A ing connected with oil'pumpfSI;V .',I'he'pump 3l is in turn connected withlthe 2reservoir .32 and lthe pipe 3Ilf discharges into the reservoir 32.

Should the'lubricant circulating'system Vnot de,t velop suii'icient pressure inside ,the sleeve 1, a metering device such as a restricted orifice as indicated at 30a may be placed in the pipeY 30, it maintaining a back pressure inside the casing. The unit 32, in additionto being a reservoir, may be a filtering or processing unit of thetype well known in the art, or may be connected 'to a lter- In theoperation of the bearinga lubricant is supplied through the pipe 26, and it vmay at all times .be kept at a pressureabove the highest pressure to which either end of the sleeve is subjected. By circulating the oil', cleanoil may be constantly supplied to the bearings and impurities of either a solid orliquid character may be flushed away. Becauseof the oil being kept at a higher pressure than the atmosphere surrounding any part of the bearing, there is little possibility of the vapors or impuritiesin the atmosphere getting into the oil, and by .the use of effecf tiveipackings around the shaft at each end of the sleeve and voutside of each of the two bearings, the escape of oillmay be prevented. 1

In the drawings, I have illustrated one specific embodiment of my invention as applied to an agitating kettle, but as hereinbefore stated, this -is for purposes of illustration and discloses an application to which the bearing of the present invention is especially adapted; but the device may be constructed in other ways and used for Votlier purposes within the contemplation of my 10.,.inventionand'lunder"the scope ffth following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an agitatorbearing support for reaction kettles operating at non-atmospheric pressure, an agitator shaft, a sleeve member surrounding a portion of the agitator shaft intermediate the endspf said shaft, said sleeve member having an internal diameter throughout its length greater thanfthev diameter of the agitator shaft so as to providea continuous open space around the shaft from one end of the sleeve to the other for the circulation of lubricanttherealong, said lsleeve having a .transverse external flange forsecuring it to a reaction kettle, axially spaced upper and lower bearings inside the sleeve` the said bearings being anti-friction bearings through which lubricant may flow, a cover Vmember at each end of the sleeve forming a closure for the sleeve, there being a packing gland about the shaft in each cover member, a duct leading from a pointabove said flange to a point below theI lower bearing and above the lower cover member, means at the other vend of the sleeve between the upper'bear'ingjand the upper cover Vmemberproviding a passage for the flow of lubricant` and means externally of the sleeve K for circulating uidunder vpressure into one end ofthe sleeve" and .out the other.

2. An agitator bearing support for reaction kettles/comprising an agitator shaft,` a bearing structure vfor said shaft, said structure comprising a sleeve surrounding ,the shaft and having an internal diameterrlthroughout its length greater than the diameter of the'shaftto provide a continuous lubricant circulating passagearoundthe shaft within the sleeve, a flange on the exterior of the sleevefor securing the structurecn a reaction lkettle -in which the 4agitator is mounted, a bearing for the shaft adjacent each, end of the sleeve, one ofy said bearings being a radialbearing and one of said bearings being4 a thrust bearing, a cover element at'each endr of the sleeve through whichfthe shaft passes, thev saidcover elements forming closures for the sleeve ateach end thereof, each of said cover elements having a vpacking ,therein about the shaft, means extending along the structure from a point above the ange on the `sleeve to a point adjacent the inner lend of the sleeve providing alubricant circulating passage which terminates below the lowermost bearing in the sleeve,and 4means above ,the other bearing and adjacentthejpacking at the .topA of the sleeve providing another circulating passage, one of said passages 'being for-'fthe continuous flow of lubricant into the sleeve andthe other Ybeing for the continuous flowjof lubricantfrom 

